Too Late
by Eaglehaze
Summary: Foxpaw is an ordinary apprentice of ThunderClan. She goes through the same routine every day, has to deal with strict parents, and hates biding by the rules. But in the place where there are no rules, across the border and away from the Clans, she finally realises what it was that was keeping her there, but when she returns, she finds that she is too late. (One-shot for SmokeClan)


Foxpaw sighed as her parents lectured her, her head rested on her paws as her tail flicked irritably behind her. She'd sneaked out, again, from the Clan, just to roam the border. To sum up, she hated it here. It was strict, no one liked her, and it was boring routine after boring routine. Hunting, feed the elders, clean the elder, patrol, more hunting and then battle training if she was lucky, before going around the Clan to feed all the elders, queens, kits and every cat in the medicine den, so Iceflower and her snobby apprentice, Mistfeather, who's mouth was too big her her head.

She, apart from Mistfeather, was the only apprentice, so it was up to her to clean the elders, queens, kits and medicine cats' nests, as well as feed them all, which took up a good portion of her day in itself. Now do you see why she tries to get out now and then.

Right, right, back to the lecture. You see, they are the most loyal cats in the Clan, Sunfall and Greywind, Greywind, the deputy, being her mother, Sunfall her father, _both, _senior warriors. They seemed to look at her leaving camp once in a while as an act of betrayal, and thought her lucky to be getting away without punishment, and to be their daughter.

_I would take any other two cats in the Clan as my parents over them._

There was Redshadow, a fun and upbeat kind of cat, who can get pretty irritated from time to time, but who doesn't. Then there's Oakfur, a strong and trusted warrior of the Clan, a great brother to Featherpool and Darkowl, two new warriors of the Clan. She'd never really gotten along with them very much, not because they were unpleasant, but because they were so close she always felt awkward around them.

Foxpaw let out a sigh of relief when her parents stopped their lecture, which she hadn't taken in a word of, before grabbing a finch of the fresh kill pile, eating it quickly, and padding back to her nest, alone at the back of the apprentices den.

She settled down quietly, and drifted into a dreamless and uncomfortable sleep.

She woke to a prodding in her side, which she batted away, but it kept coming back, this time accompanied with a voice. "Get up!"

"What?" Foxpaw snapped, flinging her eyes open before screwing them up against the light. "Huh?"

"Dawn patrol! Now!"

Foxpaw groaned. _Cloudberry, yet another cat I can't stand!_

Cloudberry is Foxpaw's mentor. An unpleasant cat with the whole Clan wrapped around her claw. A senior warrior who thought she owned every cat and always had to have her own way. She had had three mates, always at least a litter of three with each. Two of her kits had died, Swiftpaw and Dewpaw, two cats who had been apprentices when Foxpaw was a young kit, so she hadn't known them and frankly could hardly remember the colour of their fur.

She rolled to her paw irritably, her thick, russet fur sticking out all over the place and her leaf green eyes heavy with tiredness. She stumbled out of the den, shaking out her pelt as she dragged herself towards the patrol.

XxXxXxXx

She came back cold and in pain. A thorn had worked its way into her pad after, in her half, morning blindness, stumbling onto a bramble tendril. Greywind had looked down on her in disappointment, which Foxpaw was used to seeing. She'd watched Cloudberry glance at her with a smirk of contempt that made her want to claw that smug look off her face.

She then had to endure Mistfeather smirk at her smugly as Iceflower carefully pulled the thorn from her paw, Foxpaw wincing in pain all the while.

Then came the usual daily routine of feeding what seemed like every cat in the Clan, cleaning the nursery, while enduring Rosekit and Skykit's intolerable chittering questions that drove her insane every time she went near the place, hunting, while having to hear Cloudberry's criticizing the whole while, feeding what felt like the entirety of the Clan, including Hawkstar, before it was time for her to get some sleep.

Look, it seems eventful, but it's just not worth it! This is why Foxpaw goes to the border whenever she can! And this is one of those times where she can escape. Nightfall. Just one problem though. The guard.

She carefully sneaked in the shadows that surrounded camp, hurrying past the dens that she past. She eventually ended up at the dirt-place, what she hurriedly raced through, never fond of the smell.

Once she was out, she breathed a sigh of relief and padded out towards the border that lead off into unknown territory, where the areas were vast and unknown, where the unexpected happened, where everything was so..._free._

She sighed. She'd always wondered what it was like, and often though about leaving. Though until now, she'd never really though about what was worth staying for. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Her parents were too strict, she was always made to follow every single little rule, every single day she spent treading on thorns and sorting moss, the same boring routine.

Without thinking, she stepped over the border, where all of her worried washed away, she closed her eyes, relishing in the freedom she now felt, and excitedly bounded off into the trees, through clearings, not even caring.

She spent that night under the shade of a holly bush, getting some moss from a nearby tree but not minding, as it was for _her. _No other cat, her.

Foxpaw woke up the next morning, cold and stiff, her fur beaded with dew drops. She stretched and arched her back, wondering where she was, before remembering. The freedom, the joy, the excitement. _And my family. _

With a small burst of realisation, she scrabbled out of the holly bush, whipping her head around to try and find her scent from last night. it was faint, but she soon found it, and followed it back to where she began to recognise her surroundings, and raced over the ThunderClan border.

She froze on her paws, hearing a heart-shattering shriek, familiar. _Greywind? _Without a trace of hesitation, she darted straight to where she'd heard it, but when she reached the clearing, her heart stopped. She forgot how to breath. Her whole world crumbled around her. Greywind, her mother, lay sprawled at the side of a clearing, her neck torn open and the scent of fox surrounding the clearing, which must have just left.

Foxpaw stumbled towards her, collapsing at her side and giving off a wail of despair, taking back everything she'd ever though of her, every negative thing she'd ever thought or told her. All the arguments they had ever had, she regretted them as she yowled her pain to the forest.

She didn't know how long she'd stayed there for, whether it was a few moments or an entire moon cycle, she didn't know. Only that cats soon came, and she covered the body to stop them from moving her, to stop them from touching her, but soon stood aside as she recognised her father, his eyes heavy with grief and a small, hardly audible whimper in his throat.

They all grieved that night. The entire Clan had gathered round, give or take a few, where Oakleaf was named deputy. But Foxpaw didn't leave her side, and helped as Quickriver and Kestrelclaw, the two elders, took her to her final resting place.

Foxpaw's mind was blank as they filled in the hole, as she sat another vigil that night at her grave. Her father leaned his tail on her shoulders the next morning, and she was so grateful to still have Sunfall by her side, who must have been suffering the same as her, now she thought about it.

_It was my fault. Greywind wouldn't be out there if it weren't for me! _She guessed she hadn't known what she had. Now she'd lost it.

Foxpaw grew on to be Foxstrike, a confident she cat with determination driving her every step. She got a mate, Darkowl, and had a kit, Nightkit, a small black she cat with dark blue eyes. She became deputy, a goal to live up to her mother's name, but retired at a late age, passing peacefully in the elders den. The cat that came to great her, Greywind.

**So that was just a little one-shot I pulled together for the forum SmokeClan. I hope you guys enjoyed, and please review!**


End file.
